I know there's a thread on last night's match and it might seem odd to praise a ground for staging a less-than-half-full U21 international but I was struck last night again about how fortunate we are to have the facilities and people we do.
Not sure if it was the FA or club who gave tickets to the local schools but it worked really well. There was a real family atmosphere on the trains to and from the Amex. We had tickets in the North East corner and my son's school were in A block in the East so we could see them. They were bouncing up and down the whole game and were so excited at the end (3 late, lucky goals helped!). Last night my mate and I who already take our sons to all the weekend home games had other parents ask if we could take their kids to a Brighton game some time too. These are kids who had never been to a football match before never mind the Albion. It's helped build more fans in the young generation.
There was clearly a higher level of security than normal given what happened in Paris. Again this was handled brilliantly. I could see the random friskings and sniffer dogs but it was done in a low key manner and the kids didn't notice at all. So much better than being confronted by a line of gun wielding police. What's more several of our group were late but they were still in their seats in plenty of time.
We were right on the corner flag and the sight line was EXCELLENT. Really didn't miss a thing and couldn't help compare it to Fulham where we were in the corner and the view was crap. we'd been told "every seat was good" during out initial ST consultation but at that point the corners weren't filled. I actually believed it last night.
Between this and the Rugby World Cup I think this autumn has demonstrated we have some of the best facilities in the country and I think the FA and others will be back.
Not sure if it was the FA or club who gave tickets to the local schools but it worked really well. There was a real family atmosphere on the trains to and from the Amex. We had tickets in the North East corner and my son's school were in A block in the East so we could see them. They were bouncing up and down the whole game and were so excited at the end (3 late, lucky goals helped!). Last night my mate and I who already take our sons to all the weekend home games had other parents ask if we could take their kids to a Brighton game some time too. These are kids who had never been to a football match before never mind the Albion. It's helped build more fans in the young generation.
There was clearly a higher level of security than normal given what happened in Paris. Again this was handled brilliantly. I could see the random friskings and sniffer dogs but it was done in a low key manner and the kids didn't notice at all. So much better than being confronted by a line of gun wielding police. What's more several of our group were late but they were still in their seats in plenty of time.
We were right on the corner flag and the sight line was EXCELLENT. Really didn't miss a thing and couldn't help compare it to Fulham where we were in the corner and the view was crap. we'd been told "every seat was good" during out initial ST consultation but at that point the corners weren't filled. I actually believed it last night.
Between this and the Rugby World Cup I think this autumn has demonstrated we have some of the best facilities in the country and I think the FA and others will be back.